Moving On
by TaliaThompson
Summary: Clay and Stella get in a fight over Clay's job right before a mission. Things go downhill from there.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold and snowy Saturday night when Clay's phone rang and Stella instantly rolled her eyes. She knew what that ring meant.

"Where to this time? Oh wait… let me guess… you can't tell me right?" She said to him annoyed.

Clay was caught a bit off guard by her attitude. They were having a great night up until his phone rang. He understood it couldn't be easy for her and knew she was getting tired of it but this wasn't the first time he'd been spun up since they had been dating. She would usually give him a hard time about it but he figured it was something that she was finally coming to terms with. Apparently he was wrong.

"Where is this coming from? You know I can't control when we get called." He asked innocently, trying to avoid a fight that he knew was coming anyway.

"It's just getting a little old. Aren't there other teams? You guys literally just got back a couple of days ago."

That statement was what got Clay going. "Are you fucking kidding me? Old!? Stella, this is my job! You knew exactly what I was before we even started dating, what I do, what sacrifices would have to be made and you said you could handle it. You…" Clay was cut off.

"I can handle it! I jus…" Stella started to say before Clay returned the favor of cutting her off.

"Obviously you can't. We've been dating what, just over a year and you're already saying 'this is getting old?' Are you serious?" Clay was furious. He headed to his bedroom, slammed the door shut and started packing his bags. This was the last thing he needed to worry about before a mission. A mission that wasn't even a guarantee. When he had gotten the text it said that both Alpha and Bravo and were meeting up at base. It was Alpha's turn to spin up but there was a 50/50 chance Bravo would be needed to assist so command wanted both teams there for the briefing just in case.

Stella had continued screaming at him through the locked door. With every word he was getting angrier and angrier, but he kept his mouth shut.

"You are never here anymore! NEVER! I get that they need you and that it's your job but I need you too. I need you to be here for me sometimes." She yelled through the door.

That triggered a nerve with Clay. He grabbed his now packed bags, flung the door open and yelled back "You want to talk about being there!? Where were YOU when I came back from deployment? Huh? You weren't there. You were off playing 'professor' at some college with a guy I don't trust."

"That's not fair and you know it! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I couldn't say no to that" She yelled back.

"How is it not fair!? I don't expect you to put your life on hold for me Stella, but if you're gonna give me shit about being there, maybe you should check yourself first."

"Don't you dare spin this around on me!" Stella said as Clay grabbed his keys and headed for the front door. He was done arguing. He was done with all of it. "Don't be surprised if I'm not here when you get back. I'm done with this shit." She said as Clay was closing the door behind him.

Clay heard her words through the door and opened the door back up. "Leave your key on the counter. Have a nice life." He said calmly and without a care as he slammed the door back shut and headed to his car.

Stella was speechless. She wasn't expecting him to let her go so easy and it pissed her off even more than she already was. She began packing her things. She wanted out of that apartment. She had quite a bit of stuff there and knew she was going to need help moving it out. She called Gordon to help her. He was the closest person to her and Clay's apartment and she wanted out of there. After she hung up with Gordon she tried calling Clay. She hated doing it and wanted to just be done with the whole thing but she couldn't let him get the last word, not when she had more to say.

Stella was calling Clay constantly and he kept denying the calls, partly because it was snowing so hard he was trying to concentrate on the road but mostly because he was just done. He didn't care to hear anything else she had to say. He had a potential mission he needed to focus on. Finally after about the 11th call he answered his phone. "What!?" He answered angrily.

"Woah man. No need to bite my head off. I was just making sure you got the text. You never replied." Jason's voice was heard over the phone.

Clay sighed in a bit of relief before replying. "Sorry, Stella and I just got in a huge fight and she keeps calling. I thought you were her. I'm on my way, I'll be there in about 20 minutes. The roads are terrible and it's snowing really hard so it's taking a bit longer than usual.

"Sorry to hear that. Drive carefully and I'll see you when you get here." Jason replied.

Clay hung up the phone and threw it back in the passenger seat. No surprise to him Stella called again. He rolled his eyes, grabbed the phone and shut it off. By the time he looked back up he had almost no time to react.

A van was stopped in the middle of the road after hitting a deer. Clay tried his best to avoid hitting it and tried to swerve right. The snowy roads took him further right than he wanted and his breaks became nonexistent on the ice and snow. Clay threw his arms up to protect himself the best he could as his car went through the guard rail and rolled to the bottom of the small hill, coming to a stop with the car half submerged in the icy stream at the bottom.

The family of four ran to the edge of the hill. Seeing the partially submerged car, three of them ran down to the bottom while the youngest, a 12 year old girl named Rory, called for help. After calling for help Rory began making her way down the hill to rejoin her family. Her dad stopped her halfway down and told her to run back up to the car and grab flashlights and the rope that they luckily had in the back of the van for him.

Although the stream was covered in ice, the current underneath was moving strong and the mangled car was barely hanging on to the edge. The dad wanted to tie the car off to a tree to ensure it wouldn't get swept away by the current so that he could get closer to help whoever was inside.

Rory returned quickly and watched as her dad and 16 year old brother quickly but carefully secured the car. Confident the car was going nowhere the dad could get a better eye on the passenger. He could hear the sirens approaching and considered waiting for help to arrive until he saw the water that was beginning to fill the car through the broken windows and the bloody unconscious driver that was sitting in it.

"We don't have time to wait. We need to get him out now. That car is filling up fast and that rope won't hold much longer if it gets any fuller. I'm going in." The dad said to his family.

They didn't like the idea of their dad entering the mangled car that was barely being held in place by a rope, filled with freezing water, but they didn't have much choice. The driver was going to die if they didn't get him out soon, if he wasn't dead already.

The mom sent Rory back up the hill to flag down the help that was coming, not wanting her to watch in case something went wrong. The brother was helping the dad and the mom was grapping whatever warm, dry clothes and blankets she could find in their van.

A boat load of flashing lights from firetrucks, police cars and an ambulance arrived and quickly sized up the scene. They blocked off the road in both directions and headed down to the car in the stream. A medic quickly checked the driver for a pulse and was relieved to find one. He wasn't happy with it but it was there, meaning he was still alive. The firefighters quickly stabilized the car a lot better than the rope was doing and carefully helped the dad out of the car. He was soaked up to his belly button and managed to gain a few cuts from the broken glass. Another medic sent him up to the ambulance to get warmed up and the cuts cleaned. Cops sent the rest of the family up to the ambulance with them so that they were out of the way for the firefighters to do their job.

One medic was keeping an eye on his condition as best as she could while another was put in a wetsuit and entered the back seat of the car. He placed the driver in a cervical collar and held his head in place while the firefighters cut the roof off the car. As the firefighters were cutting off the roof the medic keeping an eye on the driver had called for a helicopter. The snow had stopped but the road conditions were still awful. It would take the ambulance too much time to get to the hospital, time that they might not have.

Once the roof of the car was cut off they began cutting the door off in order to slide the driver out. By the time they had finally gotten him out of the car the helicopter was landing.

"Get him up to the helicopter now!" One of the medics yelled as they carried the backboard up the hill while another medic was cutting off the soaking wet clothes from the driver. As soon as the shirt was cut off they noticed the dog tags around his neck.

The medic carefully took the dog tags off as they reached the helicopter. As soon as the driver was loaded into the helicopter and it took off the medic walked over to a cop.

"Hey Ed. Can you call over to the base? Let them know," she looked down at the dog tags to read the name, "a Clay Spenser was in a serious accident and was flown to the Hampton Medical Hospital. See if they can contact his family. There was no phone or wallet found, must've gotten lost in the water.

"Yea no problem. He gonna make it?" Ed asked.

The medic shrugged her shoulders, she honestly wasn't sure, and then walked back to the ambulance with Ed to check on the family. Ed also wanted to get a statement from the family to try to figure out what had happened. Once everything was cleaned up the road was reopened and all the first responders went their separate ways.


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope I did ok with this chapter. I don't have any sort of medical background but I did the best I could with the research I did. Hopefully it's not too awful.**

"Are you sure he said 20 minutes?" Blackburn asked Jason as he looked at the clock. Everyone was accounted for except for Clay and command was getting tired of waiting.

"Positive. He only lives a half hour from here but because of the weather and road conditions its taking him longer." Jason replied trying to be optimistic but knowing if Clay said 20 minutes he no doubt would be there in 20 minutes. It was now pushing 35 minutes.

"I don't know how much longer we can wait. Command is ready to get the ball rolling. Give him a call. See how far out he is." Blackburn said.

Jason shook his head and stepped into the hall to call Clay. It went straight to voicemail. He tried again and received the same results. Blackburn entered the hall moments later to get the scoop.

"Phone went straight to voicemail. He probably turned it off. Said something about getting in a big fight with Stella and she keeps calling." Jason told Eric.

Blackburn rubbed his face. Clay should know better than to turn his phone off. "Alright. I don't like it but I guess we just have to start without him. If we end up heading out with Alpha we can fill him in on the details on the plane."

Jason and Eric returned to the room and informed command that they would be starting without Clay. Once they took their seats command began briefing everyone on the mission. 45 minutes into the briefing there was a loud knock on the door. Everyone knew briefings were not supposed to be disturbed so it threw everyone for a look. At first they thought it was Clay but then again they knew Clay was smart enough not to disturb the meeting.

A member of Alpha's support staff who was standing by the door, poked her head out of the door to see who it was. She then looked over at Eric. "Lt. Commander Blackburn. It's for you." She informed him.

"Can it wait? We're almost finished in here.' He asked.

"I'm afraid not." She told him.

Eric had an uneasy feeling. His mind instantly went to his wife, thinking maybe something had happened to her. He figured he would see Clay sitting on the bench outside the room once he got exited the room.

Once he was out of the room he was surprised to see only one other person outside of the room.

"Are you Lt. Commander Eric Blackburn?" The man asked him.

"Yea. What's this about?" He asked.

"Clay Spenser is on your team correct?"

"That's correct. Now what is this about?" He had a bad feeling in his stomach.

"I'm sorry to inform you but he was in a serious accident tonight. He was flown to Hampton Medical Hospital in serious condition."

"What? Are you sure it was or Clay Spenser? Eric was in both denial and disbelief.

"I'm positive. The cop said he was wearing dog tags. That was the only identification they had. They figured someone here would have his family contact information." She told him.

"Thank You." Eric said and then sat down on the bench right outside of the room, contemplating his next move. ' _There's no way those guys will deploy safely knowing one of their own was hurt'_ Blackburn thought to himself. A minute later he stood up and entered the room. Before he could say anything he and Jason made eye contact and Jason knew it had to be about Clay.

"Commander, you said this could be done with one team correct?" Eric asked the commander.

"It would be harder but it is possib…" He was respectfully cut off.

"With all due respect sir, Bravo has to pull out. Sending us would do more harm than good." Eric said.

"I'm assuming there's a good reason for this?" The commander asked.

"I wouldn't pull out if it wasn't." Eric replied.

"Very well. Bravo, you guys are dismissed. Lt. Commander I expect a good explanation when this is all over."

"No problem. Thank you sir." Eric said as his team stood up and exited the room. They were all curious and worried about what was going on except for Jason. He knew whatever it was, wasn't going to be good.

"What happened to him?" Jason asked as soon as everyone was out of the room.

"Car accident. He was flown to the hospital in serious condition. That's all I know." Blackburn sighed.

Everyone's head dropped as they took in the news. "Does Stella know?" Sonny asked.

"Doubtful. The cops said the only ID they were able to find was his dog tags. They asked us to contact the family." Eric told the group.

Jason and Eric were the only two who knew Clay and Stella got in a huge fight but they weren't sure how big of a fight it was. "I'll stop by his place on the way, let her know, see if she needs a ride to the hospital." Jason said as they headed towards the parking lot to head to the hospital.

"I'll go with him, if you don't mind having some company?" Sonny said.

Once they reached their cars everyone but Jason and Sonny headed towards the hospital, while the other two made a pit stop at Clays apartment.

/

As soon as the medics loaded Clay into the helicopter, the flight medics got to work. Their main focuses were his breathing and the hypothermia that had begun to set in. His body temperature had dropped to 91 degrees. His entire body shivered, attempting to warm him back up. They covered him with blankets where they could and turned on the heat until it was uncomfortably warm. One medic had carefully placed a bag valve mask over his mouth and nose, taking note of the swelling on the left side of his face and the deep cuts all over his face. She would squeeze the bag connected to the mask every 5 seconds to help deliver warm humidified oxygen to help warm his airways and raise his body temperature. They placed him on warm IV fluids to help combat the hypothermia. He was connected to all sorts of wires to monitor his vital signs.

It was a 10 minute flight to the hospital. Halfway there his body temperature had finally risen to 92.7. The flight medics were happy with the small progression. He was in no way out of the woods as he had a hoard of other injuries that desperately required attention but it was a step in the right direction.

As they were approaching the hospital, Clay began to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and didn't recognize anything. He went to turn his head to look for something familiar but something was preventing his from turning. His mind was sluggish and he was trying hard to remember anything that he was doing before this moment. _'Was I on a mission that went sideways? Where am I? Why can't I move? Is my team ok? Why does everything hurt? It's getting really hard to breathe'_ Clay thought in his head. He began to panic. Nothing made sense to him at the moment.

"Calm down. You're on your way to the hospital. You were in a car accident." One of the medics informed him as she noticed his eyes open, the pain and panic on his face and his heart rate picking up.

Clay couldn't calm down. His mind still wasn't entirely there, all his training temporarily out the window. He now knew he was in a car accident but couldn't remember how it happened. He tried hard to think of anything other than the intense pain but it was impossible. Everything hurt. Each breath caused more and more pain in his sides making it harder and harder to breath.

"Clay. I really need you to calm down. I know you're in pain but we are preparing to land at the hospital. They'll be able to help better with the pain. Ok?" The same medic said calmly. She really didn't want to have to intubate him during the landing but she would if she had to.

' _Preparing to land? What does that mean? Am I in a helicopter? What the hell happened?'_ he thought to himself. Suddenly it hit him. Stella, the fight, the mission, the team, everything. It overwhelmed him. Any chance he thought he had of calming himself down was gone. The breathing became harder and the pain more intense. Next thing he knew the mask on his face was removed and he saw the intubation kit in the medic's hand. _'Well shit'_ he thought seeing the kit in the medics hand and that was the last thought he had before being welcomed back into the darkness.

As the helicopter landed there was a trauma team waiting on the roof to rush Clay into the OR. The flight medics briefed them on his condition, wished them good luck and carried on with their day. Their job to get Clay to the hospital alive was done. It was all in the trauma teams hands now.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason and Sonny arrived at Clay's apartment and knocked on the door. They could hear laughing inside as they waited for Stella to open the door which sort of pissed both Jason and Sonny off in a way. As she opened the door her smile instantly disappeared.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on some sort of mission." Stella asked with a bit of attitude.

"Headed somewhere?" Sonny asked, noticing the packed bags piled next to the door.

"That's none of your business. Now… are one of you going to tell me why you're here?"

Without answering her question, Sonny stepped into the apartment and started looking around which really set Stella off. Jason just leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed watching and listening to her yelling at Sonny. He didn't have time for the petty bullshit game she was trying to play. He was just about to step in to grab Sonny so that they could get to the hospital when he heard Sonny starting to raise his voice.

"You have got to be kidding me! Why is this guy here?" He asked Stella. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked Gordon next before even giving Stella a chance to reply.

Jason ran into the bedroom to see Gordon sitting on the bed, Sonny standing right in front of him, ready to bash his face in, and Stella yelling in the doorway about her and Clay were done and that Gordon was there to help her pack her stuff.

"Come on Sonny, let's go. We don't have time for this shit. We need to get to the hospital." Jason said knowing that if he didn't get Sonny out of there soon there was a good chance someone would be leaving with a smashed in face.

It took Sonny every ounce of self-control to compose himself and walk out but he did. Not before shooting Stella a death glare though.

"Wait, hospital? Why?" Stella's attitude did a complete 180.

"Clay was in an accident, don't know much besides that. Don't bother showing up." Jason was giving her more of a warning rather than telling her. He and Sonny then walked out of the apartment and straight to Jason's truck.

"Girl's got some balls to call that scumbag and invite him to CLAY's apartment to help her pack, let alone allowing him to sit on Clay's bed. I swear to God if she shows up at that hospital…" Sonny couldn't even finish his sentence, he was getting to angry.

"She's not going to see him. We'll make sure of that. The kid is literally fighting for his life and she's inviting guys over to his place." Jason assured him.

"It's not just any guy though Jason. It's the one guy Clay had a bad feeling about while we were deployed. We shared a bunk, I saw how his mind ran wild every single time she mentioned his name, and believe me, it was mentioned a lot."

"Don't worry man. We'll take care of it." Jason again assured him.

As they arrived at the hospital they found the rest of the group sitting in the waiting room.

"Hey. Where's Stella?" Ray asked, assuming she was going to be with them when they rejoined the group.

"She ain't coming." Sonny replied without making eye contact as he walked over to an empty seat.

Ray and the rest of the group looked over at Jason for an explanation.

Jason knew it wasn't really his place to share Clay's business but there was no way he was getting out of this one without an explanation.

"She and Clay got in a huge fight tonight. We got there, she had her bags packed." Jason paused. "Gordon was there with her. Sonny found him sitting at the foot of Clay's bed."

"Wait…the guy Clay was worried about during our last deployment?" Lisa asked.

"Yup. That's the guy." Jason said.

The group remained quiet until Sonny broke the silence. "Any word on Clay?"

"Nothing really. He's in surgery now. They said he's in pretty bad shape and it could be a few hours before there's any more updates." Blackburn told him.

They all sat there, finding their own ways to pass the time while they waited for an update. Ray looked over at Jason at one point and could see the battle going on in his mind. He stood up and walked to the opposite end of the room where no one would be able to hear them.

"Jason, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ray asked him as he made his way to the far side of the room.

Jason looked up at Ray and followed him.

"What's going on?" Ray asked as they sat down.

"What do you mean what's going on?" Jason replied.

"In your head. You know what I'm talking about." Ray began to push.

Jason remained quiet for a moment. "I don't know what to do about this whole Stella and Gordon thing. If I should tell him or not. What to do if she actually shows up."

Jason watched as Ray carefully contemplated his response. "What if it was you? Would you want to know?" Ray asked him.

"I don't know. From what it sounds like they're done. She was packing her bags, he told her to leave the key on the counter. If they stay 'done' then I have nothing to worry about. It won't matter. I just don't know if this will change anything and if it does what do I do then? I don't know if I would want to know or not."

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when it comes. Who knows, maybe Sonny will just blurt it out and you won't have to deal with it."

Before they could finish their conversation, a nurse entered the waiting room looking for the family of Clay Spenser. Jason and Ray quickly rejoined the rest of the group.

"Let me start by saying that he did make it through surgery. He's in bad shape and will be hurting for a while but we have no reason to believe he won't make a full recovery in time." The nurse started

"How bad?" Sonny asked.

"He came in with slight hypothermia but we managed to quickly get his body temperature to a stable degree. He has a slight skull fracture and a broken cheek and jaw bone, all of which will heal on their own, a broken vertebrae in the c2 region, which luckily hasn't seemed to effect his spinal cord. He dislocated his right shoulder and broke his left wrist and right ankle. Five broken ribs, a bruised lung and slight internal bleeding. We managed to find the cause of the bleeding quickly. We have placed him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator to allow him to better heal. He's going to be in a world of pain when he wakes up and we don't want him to do anything to jeopardize the healing process."

"How could he jeopardize the healing process?" Blackburn asked.

"From what we were told, he woke up in the helicopter on the way here and started panicking which affected his breathing and caused him to be intubated. We're trying to avoid that. The plan is to begin weaning him off the ventilator in the next two days and then to start waking him up a day or so after that."

"Are we able to see him?' Jason asked.

"Of course. Follow me." The nurse replied as she led the group to a private room in the ICU.

As they entered the room Clay was almost unrecognizable. The whole left side of his face was bruised and swollen. He was covered in cuts, some that required stiches. Nobody could miss tubes down his throat or the neck brace keeping him immobile. His right arm was secured to his body to keep his shoulder in place and his left arm and right ankle were heavily casted.

The nurse that led them to the room noticed the looks on everyone's faces. "Look. I know it looks really bad but given what had happened, he's pretty lucky. He.."

"You call this lucky? He's in a coma, on a ventilator, so bruised and broken we can barely recognize him!" Sonny exploded before Davis took him out of the room to calm him down.

With Sonny out of the room the nurse continued her sentence. "He will wake up. We have no reason to believe he won't make a full recovery. It's going to take time. It's not a 'feel better in a week' type of thing, but he will get there."

"Thank you ma'am." Blackburn said as the nurse left the room, leaving the team to have some alone time with Clay. As soon as she was gone Sonny and Lisa re-entered the room.

"I don't like her." Sonny mumbled in typical Sonny fashion, causing the team to crack a smirk for the first time since hearing the news.

"It's not her fault dude." Ray replied "She's just the messenger.

"Yea…well, I still don't like her." Sonny replied.

The team just rolled their eyes and then each took a seat. They all stayed by his side for the next few hours. They decided they would all take turns staying with him so that he would not be alone at any point in time. Jason and Sonny took the first shift.

As the rest of the team was walking out of the hospital, Davis spotted Stella walking in. "Hey guys, I'll catch up with you later." She told them as she separated herself from the group. They said their see you laters and went their separate ways.

As soon as she was far enough away she yelled over at Stella. "Stella! Hey wait up a second."

Stella stopped, not sure what to prepare for. She recognized Davis from a picture Clay had shown her but had never actually met her.

"Look. I know I'm not 'supposed to be here' but I just wanted to see how he was doing, tell him I'm sorry." Stella told her.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Jason and Sonny are up there with him now." Davis told her.

"Of course they are." Stella rolled her eyes. "Can you at least tell him I was here next time you see him. I don't even know if he wants to see me."

Lisa looked at her. Clearly she had no idea. "You have no idea do you?" Lisa asked her.

"No idea about what?" Stella asked.

"Clay's in bad shape. The doctors put him in a coma." Davis started to tell her when she noticed the tears forming in Stella's eyes.

"Hey. He's going to be ok. It's only for a few days to let his body heal a bit. Once he's awake I'll ask him if he wants to see you but until then I need you to stay away and if he doesn't want to see you then you need to respect that and step away for good. Ok?" Davis told her as she put Stella's number in her phone. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Stella shook her head and then thanked Lisa before she walked away. She had no idea what type of shape Clay was in. Knowing now made it harder to stay away but she knew listening to Davis would be the best for everyone. She had already finished moving all of her stuff out of Clay's apartment and locked the key inside on the counter like he had asked. She slowly walked back to her car and got in. Once she was inside she started crying. She hated this situation. Once she took a deep breath and pulled herself together she decided to head back to her place, thankful that she still had a few months left on her lease, and wait to hear anything from Davis.


	4. Chapter 4

On the fourth day while Jason and Ray were sitting with Clay, one of the nurses came in to talk to them.

"We would like to start waking him tomorrow." She said as he was checking all of his stats. "Would it be possible to have everyone here? Due to the amount of drugs involved to induce the coma, on top of the morphine for the pain, coming out of a coma can be very confusing and scary. The more familiar faces and voices that are around the better."

"Yea. Without a doubt we'll be here." Jason assured her. Just looking at Clay made his own body hurt. Although the swelling had gone down a bit on his face the bruising had become much darker. He looked like he went ten rounds with Muhammad Ali. "Are you sure it's not too soon to wake him up?" He asked after looking him over again.

"We are positive. We only induced him to give his body a rest and help him heal quicker. Plus it'll be a gradual thing. He isn't going to be wide awake and fully alert as soon as we back off the drugs. They will still be in his system once we stop them so it will take a little time for him to somewhat come around once we take him off the drugs. When he does come around don't expect too much. Just him momentarily opening his eyes and looking around will probably be as much as you get. He will still be on morphine to help manage the pain." The nurse informed them. She knew most of the time families got frustrated when their loved ones didn't just bounce back to their normal selves once woken up, like a coma was some sort of miracle cure, and she wanted them to be prepared.

"How long will he be like that?" Ray asked.

"A couple days at most. He will start to come around more and more as the time passes. It really just depends on him. Everyone's different." The nurse answered. She then asked them if they had any more questions and when they said no she carried on with her day.

Jason called Blackburn as soon as the nurse was gone to have him round up the team so everyone could be there the next day.

As soon as the next day rolled around everyone showed up at the hospital almost an hour early. They were all anxious for Clay to wake up but knew they couldn't rush anything.

"Alrighty, ready to get this ball rollin?" the nurse asked enthusiastically as she entered Clay's room.

"More than ready." Jason answered anxiously.

"Just remember, be patient, it's going to take some time." The nurse reminded them. She then began the process of waking Clay up. "Ok. My job here is done. The rest is up to him. I'll be right outside the room at the desk, come and get me once he opens his eyes."

They all watched and waited for any signs of Clay waking up and received nothing.

"How long exactly does this take? It's been almost two hours." Sonny asked. He knew he had to be patient but it was getting harder and harder to do.

"Not sure. The nurse said everyone is different, remember?" Jason said to him.

Just over the two hour mark they finally began to get what they were waiting for. Clay's right hand, which was secured in a sling to help his shoulder heel, formed in a quick fist. He then began twitching his fingers a little.

"Hey Clay. Can you hear us? I know it hurts but you need to open your eyes." Lisa was the first one to speak to him.

Clay's brow was furrowed as he began feeling the pain. _'Why am I in so much pain? Who keeps talking to me? Oh wait.. I know that voice. That sounds like Lisa. Why is she here? Where exactly is here? This definitely doesn't feel like my bed so I know I'm not home. She keeps telling me to open my eyes. Why is it so hard to open them?'_ Clay was thinking to himself as his senses started to come back.

Finally, his eyes opened. The first thing he remembered seeing was Jason, Brock and Eric standing at the foot of his bed. He had a look of pain and confusion on his face. ' _Well they are definitely NOT Lisa. I thought the pain was bad before. That was nothing compared to what it feels like now._ ' Suddenly he heard Lisa's voice again to the right side of him. He went to look over and began to panic a bit when he couldn't turn his head.

"Easy. Don't try to move. Sonny went to get the nurse. She'll be right in." Jason ordered him.

' _The nurse? Why does he have to get the nurse?'_ He looked around a little more, the best he could. _'Oh, clearly I'm in the hospital, but why am I in the hospital and why can I barely move.'_ He wanted to panic. He was about to panic and then the nurse came in and put a stop to it. She began explaining to him that he was in a car accident and some of the injuries that he had but if he was being honest, he heard nothing after being told he was in a car accident. The drugs still had a strong hold of him and pulled him back into the darkness.

"What's going on? Is he Ok? I thought he'd at least be awake a little longer than that." Sonny asked concerned that Clay was only awake for about ten minutes.

"It's perfectly normal. Even though we stopped the drugs that induced the coma, they are still in his system. He will begin becoming more and more alert as they are flushed out." She reminded everyone.

Over the next few hours Clay opened his eyes a few more times and each time they had to prevent him from panicking. The entire team had gone home, leaving only Lisa and Jason left.

Lisa struggled with whether or not she should tell Jason about Stella. She wanted to tell him to give him the heads up but at the same time felt like she could handle the situation on her own without Jason even finding out. ' _Who am I kidding, Jason finds out everything.'_ She thought to herself. That was the decision maker right there.

"Hey, listen, there's something I want to talk to you about." Davis said to Jason causing him to look over at her.

"What's up?" Jason asked.

"It's about Stella." Lisa started, noticing Jason rolling his eyes. "And before you cut me off, let me finish. I ran into her the other day as we were leaving the hospital."

"She was here?" Jason wasn't happy.

"She just wanted to see how he was doing. She had no idea what kind of shape he was in."

"Well I'm pretty sure she lost that right when she packed up all her bags and invited that damn Gordon guy to Clay's apartment." Jason raised his voice, unable to control his tone.

He took a breath and calmed himself down "Please tell me you didn't tell her she could come here?" He asked Lisa.

"What? Oh God no! I would never do that. I did tell her I would keep her updated and that IF, and only if, Clay wanted to see her than she could come. I felt like she deserved at least that." Lisa said.

Jason felt like she didn't deserve much of anything but to put an end to the conversation he just shook his head and agreed.

Lisa was glad that Jason understood where she was coming from, or was at least playing along like he understood.

The next morning things started to look up. Clay woke up for the first time without panicking, a good sign that most of the drugs seemed to be out of his system. He still had pain written on his face but the confused look seemed to be gone.

"Hey man." Ray said once he noticed Clay was awake. Ray and Sonny had showed up early that morning to allow Jason and Lisa to go home and relax.

Clay could acknowledge that Ray was in the room but something was preventing him from looking to his right. He slowly brought his left arm up and felt that he had a neck brace on.

"Easy there kid" Sonny said as he and Ray walked to the foot of the bed so that Clay could see them.

"Why?" Clay whispered, the first word he had spoken since the accident happened.

Ray and Sonny looked at each other and tried to figure out how to answer Clay's question. Why what? Why was he here, why was he in a neck brace, why did this happen? The list could go on and on for what 'why' meant.

Almost as if Clay was reading their minds they heard him whisper again "here."

"You want to know why you are here?" Sonny asked, trying to clarify that's what Clay wanted to know.

"You were in a car accident on the way to the base. Do you remember anything that happened?" Ray asked him.

Clay remained silent as he tried to remember. Sonny went and got the nurse to tell her Clay was improving and was beginning to ask questions.

After trying to remember what happened and not able to find anything he looked at Ray and said "no."

"That's ok. You hit your head pretty hard and doctors still have you on some of the good stuff to help manage the pain. It'll come back to you." Ray was trying to be optimistic for his friend.

"When?" He asked again, wanting to know how long ago everything happened.

"Six days ago." Ray informed him.

Moments later Sonny returned with a nurse. "Mr. Spenser. So nice to see you awake. How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"Hurts." He whispered again.

"I know it hurts. You did a pretty good number on yourself. Can you tell me where exactly it hurts?" She asked him, trying to get more than a one word answer from him.

"Everywhere." He replied.

"Ok. I'll see what I can get you to help with that." She said as she started to head for the door.

"No." Clay said a little louder causing the nurse to stop in her tracks. "No…drugs."

"Come on man. No need to play a hero here. Nobody's gonna judge you for wanting a little pain relief." Sonny said trying to convince him to accept the drugs. "Shit. If it were me I'd be begging for them."

"No… please." Clay was practically begging.

Sonny and Ray both knew Clay hated being drugged. Hell, they all hated it, but Clay definitely took the cake. He would rather eat the pain than feel groggy and sleep all day.

The nurse walked back over Clay and put the little remote by his hand. "Here. If you change your mind just push this red button. It calls the nurses station, someone will come and get you whatever you need ok?" She said before leaving the room.

"I'm gonna go call Jason, let him know how the kids doing and that he's talking." Sonny said to Ray before grabbing his phone and heading out into the hall.

Once Sonny was gone, Ray looked back over at Clay and saw his eyes squinted shut.

"You sure you don't want any pain meds man?" Ray asked him, knowing the answer but hoping he was wrong.

"I'm sure. Just…need a… minute." Clay answered.

Ray instantly noticed the look on Clay's face and ran to Clay's side, grabbing a bucket just in time for Clay to get sick into.

Sonny walked in just in time to witness Clay puking his guts out and walked right back out to get the nurse.

She strode in, pain meds in hand, and even though Clay didn't want them, she administered them into his IV. Within minutes the puking came to a halt and Clay was sound asleep.

"He's getting sick because of the pain. We can't have him doing that, especially with the injuries that he sustained. If he can't handle the pain then he will have no choice but to take the pain meds." The nurse explained to Sonny and Ray. "I didn't give him a strong dose but he should stay asleep for the next few hours. The next time he wakes up we will see how he's doing and go from there. If I feel like he needs more than he's getting more, no matter how bad he doesn't want them."

Ray and Sonny completely understood. If it were up to them they would have done the same thing.

About an hour later Jason returned to the hospital expecting to see Clay awake and talking.

"What's going on? I thought he was talking?" Jason asked Sonny.

"Tried to refuse pain meds. Couldn't handle the pain and started getting sick. The nurse said with his injuries he couldn't afford to be sick so she shot him up with a low dose of pain killers. Said it should only keep him out for a few hours." Sonny informed him.

"And then what?" Jason asked. "They going to keep him drugged up still?"

"The nurse said she'll see how he's doing once he wakes up again. If she thinks he needs more, he's getting more, whether he wants it or not." Ray said.

Jason shook his head in agreement. "What did he say?"

"Not a whole lot. Asked why he was here, how long it's been, that he was in pain but that he didn't want any pain meds. Then started getting sick and the nurse administered the pain meds and now here are." Ray said.

"Well I'll be here next time he wakes up and if the nurse says he's getting pain meds he better not try and fight it." Jason said.

The other two agreed. Then they sat there and waited for the new round of drugs to wear off and for their youngest member to return to the land of the conscious.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Clay woke up and seemed to be a little more with it than the night before. Jason had refused to leave until he was able to physically see and hear Spenser talking for himself and Ray decided to stay as well.

Ray was the first one to notice Clay was awake. "Jas. Hey." He called over to Jason to get his attention and then pointed at Clay. Jason and Ray both looked over making eye contact with Clay, who couldn't decide who to look at.

"How you feeling?" Jason asked "and don't try to bullshit me."

Clay was silent, calculating his answer, deciding whether or not he should downplay the pain or just tell the truth. "It hurts." He admitted, hoping his answer would be enough to satisfy Jason. Talking hurt, his face hurt, his head hurt, his body hurt. He remembered being told he was in a car accident but couldn't remember being told the extent of his injuries.

'How bad?" Jason asked him.

"Seven." Clay winced as he shrugged his shoulders, realizing he apparently had a shoulder injury. "Maybe eight."

"I'll go get the nurse." Ray said as he headed for the door.

Clay went to protest but the look on Jason's face said he better not, so he remained silent.

When the nurse came in she asked the same questions that Jason did. Clay was getting frustrated. Everyone kept asking him questions but he didn't want to talk. Talking made his jaw hurt.

When she was finished asking her questions she told them that she was going to administer another round of pain killers.

Clay, again wanted to protest, but knew better than to do so, so he settled with rolling his eyes. It didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

"Don't worry, it's just a low dose, enough to take the edge off but not enough to knock you out." She smiled, knowing Clay would be happy with that.

"Thank you." Clay smiled, or at least half smiled with the one side of his face that would allow it.

As soon as Clay started to feel some relief from the pain meds, he started asking a few questions.

"So how hurt am I?" He asked

"Fractured skull, cheek bone and jaw. You have a broken vertebrae in the c2 area, hence the neck brace, dislocated right shoulder, broken left wrist and right ankle and you broke five ribs. You had hypothermia when they brought you in, a bruised lung and internal bleeding. The doctors induced you into a coma for six days so that your body could rest. You were on a ventilator for three of those days and the last day you were so in and out of it." Jason informed him.

Clay stayed silent, trying to take it all in. He knew he was in the hospital but he didn't remember being in a coma and the only clue he had to being on a ventilator was his somewhat sore throat.

Jason and Ray could see Clay processing this information.

"What do you remember?" Ray asked him.

"Not too much. I remember waking up at some point and everyone was here. It's all pretty spotty after that." Clay said.

"What about how the accident happened?" Jason asked. He wanted to start pushing to see if he remembered anything that happened with Stella so that he could decide which route to take with the information he held. He was hoping Clay would remember the fight.

Clay thought for a minute. He remembered bits and pieces. "It was cold and snowy. Lost control of the car. There was a family. I think." He couldn't remember if the family was really there or if they were part of some sort of dream.

The whole team had been briefed on exactly what had happened so they knew. "There was a family." Jason told him.

Clay shook his head. Ok so the family was real. "It's all blank after that." He admitted.

Jason was pushing. He wanted to do whatever he could to try to make Clay remember. "Do you remember where you were going?"

Clay thought again. "We had a mission." It was more of a question than an answer.

"We did." Jason said.

"How did it go?" Clay asked, assuming they still went on it.

"We didn't have to go. Alpha team was able to manage on their own." Jason told him. "Do you remember anything else? Like maybe from before the accident."

Clay was starting to get frustrated. He had a killer headache and all this thinking wasn't helping any and the more he talked, the more his jaw hurt, but he knew Jason was asking for a reason so he did his best to try to remember.

"Do you remember me calling you?" Jason asked him, trying to help.

"Sort of.." Clay replied.

"What did you say when you answered?" Jason pushed. Ray was about to tell him ease up on the kid when it appeared he had a lightbulb moment.

"I said 'what!?' Right?" Clay asked. It was starting to come back to him, although he wished it wasn't.

Jason smiled, happy in a way that it was coming back to Clay and that he wouldn't have to completely break the kids heart. "Do you remember why you answered like that?"

Clay's face turned to stone. It was completely unreadable. "Stella." Clay said in a lower tone than before. "We fought."

"Do you remember the fight? How it ended?" Jason asked. He hated doing this. He could see the pain that thinking and talking was causing but he needed to know what Clay remembered.

"I told her to leave her key on the counter." The emotions and pain started to hit him. ' _Why did Jason care so much about this fight?'_ He was no longer only fighting his emotions from remembering and the pain. All the thinking had taken a toll on him and forced him to now fight sleep.

"Get some rest. We'll finish this conversation when you wake back up." Ray said to Clay, noticing how he was fighting sleep. Jason looked at Ray slightly annoyed. He was making progress with the kid's memory and Ray just put an end to it.

Clay was out within minutes. "Can I talk to you in the hallway?" Jason asked Ray, not wanting to wake Clay up. They both walked out and shut the door behind them. "What the hell Ray? We were getting somewhere!"

"I know Jason, but it was becoming too much. He was remembering too much too soon."

"How is that a bad thing? I need him to remember!"

Ray started to get the feeling that there was something Jason wasn't telling him. He knew about Gordon being at the apartment and Stella having her bags packed but that was about it. "What aren't you telling me Jason?"

Jason sighed and then answered "That day me and Sonny went to the apartment, we told her not to come here. She didn't listen. Lisa saw her walking in as she was walking out. Said she just wanted to see how he was doing. Lisa told her it wasn't a good idea but IF Clay wanted to see her than she could visit. I don't want him to want to see her. If he doesn't want to see her than I don't have to tell him about Gordon. It wouldn't matter. I just… I don't know how to tell him." Jason confessed.

Ray understood where Jason was coming from. He was in tough situation. "Listen man. We'll cross that bridge when it comes, just don't push too hard. He can't afford to have any sort of setbacks. You heard the nurse when she said the drugs can cause panic attacks."

Jason knew Ray was right. Clay wasn't fully in the right frame of mind yet. He decided to take it down a notch once Clay woke back up.

They went back into the room and sat down while they waiting for Clay to wake up again. While waiting Jason got a text from Lisa asking how Clay was doing and if he has said anything about Stella.

Jason texted her back that he was more alert and was starting to remember the fight but that he was napping now.

Lisa responded back for him to keep her updated and that Stella was starting to get a little antsy.

Clay's nap only lasted for about an hour. When he woke back up Jason and Ray were still there.

"You guys are still here?" Clay asked.

"Did you really think we were going somewhere?" Ray smiled.

"Just figured ya'll had better things to do than watch me sleep." Clay was hoping they would be gone when he woke up. He remembered the conversation from earlier and wasn't really in the mood to continue it.

"You feeling ok?" Jason asked him.

"As ok as I'm going to feel." Clay knew that was the truth. He knew pain was going to part of his life for at least the next few weeks and the quicker he came to terms with that the better.

"Can we get you anything? Something to eat or drink?" Ray asked, realizing he doesn't remember the last time anything entered Clay's mouth.

"A cheeseburger would be nice." Clay smirked.

"Sorry bro, no major chewing until that Jaw heals." Jason informed him.

"What can I have?" Clay was a bit annoyed.

"Soup, yogurt, eggs, jello, applesauce, pasta, ice cream." Jason said.

"Eggs will do." Clay responded. He wasn't entirely all that hungry but knew the quicker he started to eat, the quicker he could get out of the hospital.

Ray left to go to the cafeteria and get him a plate of eggs. Clay focused his eyes on Jason, knowing the conversation from earlier was coming back up now that Ray was no longer in the room.

Instead of pushing for Clay to remember and beating around the bush, Jason decided to just break the news. "After we got the news about the accident everyone came straight here. Sonny and I made a pit stop at your place to let Stella know. I knew you told me you guys had gotten in a fight but I didn't know how bad it was. When we got there she had a pile of her bags by the front door." Jason got quiet and looked out the window.

"And?" Clay asked, knowing there was more to the story.

"She wasn't alone Clay." Jason started.

"Gordon?" Clay asked.

Jason whipped his head around, breaking his view of the window and instantly made eye contact with Clay. "How'd you know?"

"Just a feeling. He lives the closest, they're close, plus why else would you struggle with telling me?"

"I'm sorry man. I know how you feel about the guy. I thought Sonny was gonna bash his face in when he saw him." Jason got quiet again. "She wants to see you. We told her only if you wanted to see her."

"I do." Clay answered, sort of catching Jason by surprise. "The sooner the better."

"Are you sure?" Jason really didn't want her anywhere near Clay after the stunt she pulled with Gordon but if it's what Clay wanted than he was going to respect his wishes.

"I'm positive. Please tell her to come. I need to talk her."

Jason was skeptical. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to see her so bad, especially knowing about Gordon. He knew it was either to make up with her, which he really hoped wasn't the case, or to put an end to things for good. "Alright. If that's really what you want."

"It is." He answered quickly.

Jason pulled out his phone and texted Davis. He told her Clay wanted to see Stella and that if she could come as soon as she could that would be good.

Ray walked back in with three plates of eggs. He could feel the slight tension in the room.

"What did I miss?" He asked, hoping they didn't get into some sort of argument while he was gone.

"He wants to see Stella. I texted Davis to tell her to come. Waiting to hear back." Jason told Ray.

Ray was slightly shocked as well. No one really expected Clay to want to see Stella, at least not that fast. He shook his head, gave everyone their plate, and changed the topic while they waited for any sort of response from Davis regarding Stella.


	6. Chapter 6

Lisa texted Jason back that she had texted Stella and was waiting to hear back from her. She also let him know that she was on her way to the hospital.

As she was on her way to the hospital Stella had texted her back, thanking her for texting her, that she was on her way and she would be there in about an hour. ' _Great that gives me an hour to get Jason and Ray out of here.'_ She thought to herself. She didn't there being a big scene at the hospital, and the way Jason felt about Stella, she knew there would be one.

"Knock knock." Lisa said as she knocked on the door and entered Clay's room. "How you feeling today?" She asked Clay.

"Better than I felt yesterday." He smirked.

"You seem a lot better than yesterday." Lisa told him. "Hey Jason, you got a minute?"

Lisa and Jason left the room and went into the hall. "Stella's on her way. She'll be here in about 45 minutes. I think you and Ray should go. I'll hang out here until she get here." Lisa said.

Jason rolled his eyes. He didn't want to leave, but he also didn't want to see Stella. "That would probably be a good idea but promise me you'll call the second she leaves." He said to her. He didn't want to cause a scene in front of Clay but he wanted to know the outcome of the visit.

"You know I will, Jason." She assured him.

Jason and Lisa went back into the room. Jason told Ray that Lisa was going to stay and hangout for a little bit so that they could head home and get some rest. Ray had a feeling it had something to do with Stella coming so he quickly agreed. They said their goodbyes and headed out the door.

"Stella's coming?" Clay asked as soon and Jason and Ray were gone.

"She's on her way. She should be here in about a half hour." Lisa said.

Clay's expression went blank.

"You wanna tell me what's going on inside that hard head of yours?" She asked trying to break through his blank stare.

"Apparently it aint hard enough or I wouldn't have a fractured skull." His answer was a bit snarkier than he anticipated but he didn't want to talk about Stella. At least not until she got there.

"Fair point, you want to tell me where your minds at then?" She tried re-phrasing her question.

"No offense but not really." He said.

Surprisingly to Clay, Lisa didn't push for him to talk about it. Instead she changed the subject.

"So I know you feel better than you did yesterday but how do you really feel?" She asked.

"Like I was in an accident and rolled my car down a hill." His expression was a little more serious now. "I'll be honest too, you don't realize how much you take turning your head for granted until you can't do it. This thing is a pain in the ass.' Clay said about the neck brace.

"You should be thankful that you even need that pain in the ass thing. From what I heard from the doctors the first few days, it's amazing you're even alive and not paralyzed." Lisa told him.

"How long do I have to wear it?" He asked.

"That depends on how quick it heels but most likely two to three months." She informed him.

'Months!? Are you serious!?" He didn't like that answer.

"Clay, you have a broken neck! That's going to take time to heal. If you could see yourself right now, you'd be surprised that that was all you had to wear it for." She knew how much the guys hated being injured and how they hated even more the healing aspect of it.

Clay was about to respond when there was a knock on the door.

Lisa immediately stood up. "I'll give you two some privacy. I'll be right down the hall."

Stella eyed Clay from head to toe, inspecting every possible inch of him. She had tears in her eyes and had no idea what to say so she settled with a simple "hey."

"Hey." He responded back.

"Are you ok?" She asked. All she previously knew was that he was in bad shape and that he was put into an induced coma. She never expected him to look this bad. She couldn't help but stare at the left side of his face and how bruised and swollen it was and it was impossible to miss the neck brace.

"Do I look ok?" His reply was a bit snarky.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know how bad it was. No one would tell me anything. They wouldn't even let me see you or I would have come sooner." She was now trying to make herself feel better by making excuses why she wasn't there.

Clay just rolled his eyes. "This. Me being in the hospital. It doesn't change a thing."

Stella was sort of stunned by the comment. To her this did change everything. "Look Clay. I am so sorry about the way I acted before, when you got the text. We were just having such a good night and then your phone rings and just like that you're gone. I got frustrated and over reacted."

"You get frustrated every time I have to go." He replied.

"That's because I worry about you. It's not easy staying behind while you go off on some mission or deployment or whatever, where there is a very real possibility of you getting killed."

"So you think picking a fight with me every time I have to go is the right move? Those fights stay in the back of my mind the whole time Stella. That's not good. I need to be 100% focused on whatever task we're doing and I can't do that while you're stuck in my head." He was trying to stay calm and not show how worked up he was getting but the monitors he was hooked up to were giving that away.

"I'm sorry!" She honestly didn't know what else to say.

"Yea? Well I'm sorry too. I loved you Stella. A lot, but clearly this life isn't cut out for you. You…" He was then cut off by Stella.

' _Loved? As in past tense?'_ She thought. "I love you too. That's why I came. I wanted to apologize, tell you I was wrong and…"

"You love me? Is that why you invited Gordon to MY place while I wasn't there!?"

"That's not fair!" Stella answered. They were now almost screaming at each other while the monitors Clay was hooked up to started screaming as well. His pain levels, that he was previously ignoring, started to become unbearable and it was becoming harder for him to breathe.

A nurse came running in. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse said to Stella as she administered a higher dose of pain medication and placed an oxygen mask on his face to help him breathe.

"What's going on? Is he ok?" Stella was genuinely concerned.

"He'll be fine, but I still need you to leave. He can't be getting that worked up." The nurse said. Although she wasn't in the room, she was right outside and was able to hear them yelling at each other. She was actually on her way to Clay's room when the monitors started going off.

Stella left in tears. This was not how she anticipated this visit going. She figured everything was going to be worked out and that when it was time for him to go home, that she would be there with him to help take care of him until he was back to 100%. Not this. Despite everything, Clay still didn't want to be with her.

On her way out of the hospital she walked by Davis. Lisa could clearly tell she was upset and crying. "Stella, what's wrong? Did something happen to Clay?" Lisa was nervous.

Stella just looked at her and kept on going. She was in no mood to talk to anyone.

Lisa immediately ran to Clay's room to check on him. Before she could enter the room the nurse stopped her in the hallway.

"What's the matter? Is he Ok?" Lisa asked with a worried tone.

"He's going to be ok. They got in an argument which wasn't good for him. His heart rate and blood pressure got too high and he was having some trouble breathing. I put him back on the higher dose of pain meds and on oxygen. When he wakes back up please make sure he stays calm." The nurse told Lisa.

"Absolutely. Can I go in and see him now?" Lisa was anxious to get in Clay's room.

"Of course. He'll be asleep for a few hours but having you guys around seems to keep him calm."

Lisa walked into the room and saw Clay sound asleep, his now steady breaths fogging up the oxygen mask and the monitors now content with what they were reading.

"You know Jason's gonna kick both of our asses for this? If I knew this was going to be the result of your little visit, I would have never told her to come. Not yet at least." She put her hand on top of his casted left hand. She knew he was asleep and probably couldn't hear a word she was saying but she talked to him anyway. She felt bad that Stella coming had caused him a minor setback.

Lisa sat there for about 45 minutes trying to build up the courage to call Jason. He wasn't going to be too happy about this but she knew he was waiting for her to call.

After finally building up the courage to call him, Lisa picked up the phone and dialed Jason's number.

"Hey Lisa. How is it going? Stella finally gone?" Jason asked after answering the phone.

"Hey Jason. Yea about that…. She's gone, but they got into some sort of fight. Stella stormed out of here in tears and when I came back to Clay's room the nurse said she had to give him another dose of pain meds. I'm so sorry. If I knew this was going to happen I never would have told her to come." Lisa confessed.

"It's not your fault Lisa. You couldn't have known how this was going to turn out. Just hang out for a little bit. I'm on my way." Jason said before hanging up. It was hard for him to keep his cool while on the phone with Lisa. He wasn't happy but he knew Lisa wasn't the one to blame.

When he arrived at the hospital, Clay was still asleep and Lisa was sitting next to him. "How much longer will he be out for?" Jason asked.

"Shouldn't be too long. She only gave him enough to force him to relax. Apparently their fight got him a little too worked up. The nurse said it all just happened too soon. His body wasn't ready to handle all that yet." Lisa told him.

"Well we're gonna have a nice little talk when he wakes up." Jason informed her. He wanted to know exactly what happened between the two of them.

"Jason. Just give him some time. I don't think he needs any more added stress than what he's already dealing with." Lisa said.

"I'm not gonna stress him out. I just want to get to the bottom of what happened so I can prevent it from happening again. From what it sounds like we won't have to deal with Stella anymore, I just want to be sure about that. I promise I'll play nice." Jason assured her. He knew she was nervous about him getting angry with Clay about fighting with Stella but he knew Clay wasn't entirely to blame. He probably would have acted the same way had it been him.

About an hour later Clay started coming back around. Jason and Lisa decided it was better to wait until Clay was fully with it before asking about what happened with Stella so they talked about how supportive the other teams have been, taking the missions Bravo would have been sent on so that they could all be there for Clay. Once it seemed like Clay was coherent enough, Jason dug in.

"So… you want to talk about what happened earlier with Stella?" Jason asked him.

Clay was quiet, he didn't really want to talk about it but he knew had no other choice.

"She apologized for overreacting when I got the text. She thought that would be enough and that me being hurt would change things since I'd be home while I recovered. I got the feeling that she just assumed I'd take her back and that she was gonna be the one to take care of me when I finally get to leave. She wasn't too happy when I told her that this didn't change anything and she really wasn't happy when I brought up Gordon. That's about all I remember." Clay said.

"She's got some nerve thinking you would just take her back, especially after everything she did." Lisa said.

Clay just made a 'tell me about it' face. He really didn't want to keep talking about Stella. He wanted to concentrate on moving on and getting better.

"She's crazy to think we would let her take care of you. We're taking care of you until you're back on your feet. I have a guest room cleared out for you already for when they discharge you." Jason told Clay.

"I appreciate the offer but you really don't have to do that. I'll be fine to go home, but thank you." Clay tried to protest.

"Clearly those drugs are still messing with your mind." Lisa laughed a little. "How do you plan on taking care of yourself? You do realize how broken you are right?"

"Yea. There's no way we're going to let you be alone once you get out here, so you can either come home with me or we're coming home with you but don't worry about that now. We'll cross that bridge when it comes." Jason told Clay.

Clay was quiet. He really wanted to go back home to his own apartment and his own bed and he didn't want the team to have to come over to babysit him until he was well enough to do it on his own, but Jason was right. He wasn't going to worry about that yet. He knew he was still going to be in the hospital for a few more days before the topic of going home was even a serious conversation. Until that time he was going to focus on letting his body heal, managing the pain and getting the rest he needed.

 **I hope this chapter was ok. When I started this story I really wasn't a Stella fan at all. I didn't think she was cut out for the life of dating someone in the military but after the episode where Alana was killed, she really stepped up and something seemed to click, kind of like she understood it a little more and as much as I never thought I would be a fan of her she grew on me which sort of made this chapter hard to write. Anyway, I hope I still did ok and you enjoy it.**


	7. Chapter 7

The next couple of days seemed to drag on. Clay was growing more and more restless and extremely bored. He wanted to go home and to not have someone hovering over him every second of the day, which he knew deep down was not even a possibility. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew he was going to need help once he was released.

By day seventeen, Clay's spirits started to drop and everyone was picking up on it. He was barely participating in conversations and when he did participate it was only because someone asked him a question to which he replied in very short, direct answers or because someone was doing something he didn't like. He was having more and more mood swings, was easily agitated and didn't have interest in much of anything.

Ray had tried to talk to him about a mission that Alpha team had went on for them, thought maybe that would get some kind of reaction out of him, but nothing more than a "cool" "good" yeah" came out of his mouth.

"We gotta do something boss. He's drowning in here." Sonny said to Jason as they stood outside of Clay's hospital room, watching him blankly stare at the tv in front of him while Ray sat in a chair next to him. "He's getting depressed and frankly, I don't blame him."

"I don't blame him either. As much as I don't like it we just gotta wait it out. He has some pretty serious injuries, we can't risk rushing him out of here too soon." Jason replied.

Moments later Ray noticed Sonny and Jason standing outside the room. As they entered the room Ray smiled and said hello. Clay just eyed them as they got closer and closer. "Don't you guys have anything better to do? Countries to go to? People to save?"

Sonny just looked at Jason with the 'still think we don't need to get him out of here' look. Normally he would have replied with an equally as snarky comment but he knew he needed to tread lightly. Clay was in no mood to be messed with and Sonny was going to respect that. He sat in a chair on the opposite side of Ray while Jason sat in one closer to the foot of the bed.

"If you're gonna sit in here can you at least sit where I can see you?" He was getting really tired of not being able to turn his head to look at who was talking.

By about the fourth snarky comment, Sonny's words about clay drowning here started swirling around Jason's head and he had had enough. He stood up and left the room without saying a word. Sonny and Ray looked at each other, unsure if one of them should follow, but ultimately decided to give Jason his space. Clay had no reaction to his boss leaving. If anything he was relieved. ' _Now if only I could get the other two to follow suit'_ he thought to himself.

After Jason left the room, he went straight to the nurse's station and asked to talk to Clay's nurse. As soon as she appeared he asked to talk to her somewhere privately.

She took him to an empty room and had a pretty good idea what this was about. "Give it to me straight, when can he go home? He's drowning in here and it's going to quickly get to the point where him being here is going to do more harm than good."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that today and I completely agree. He needs to go home. Is there any plan in place for that?" The nurse asked.

"He is going to stay at my place until he gets the cast off his leg and we think he's ok to be on his own. I have an open guest room in my house that's already been prepared for him and unlike his apartment there's no stairs."

"That's good, exactly what he needs. Stairs are a definite no-go until his ankle is out of the cast. Now, on to home care. I know he doesn't like pain meds but you have to make sure he takes them as scheduled. Failure to do so could result in him having to come back here. He's going to pretty much be on strict bed rest for the first few days. He's not allowed to get out of bed for any reason without assistance and the only acceptable reasons for him to get out of bed is for the bathroom, to move him to the couch or for doctor's appointments."

"The couch?" Jason asked, slightly surprised.

"During the day he'll be able to rest on the couch, that way he's not completely secluded from everyone. It will give him a small sense of his freedom back to not be confined to a single room." The nurse explained.

"Ok. Awesome, Yea. So when can he leave?" Jason asked.

"I'd say most likely by this evening. I've already talked to his doctor. He thinks Clay going home would be the best thing for him at this point. I'll just let him know the plan and get some things together for you, you know, instructions, his meds, important phone numbers."

"Awesome. So are you going to break the news or can I?" Jason asked eagerly.

"I think he would rather hear it from you, but Jason, you have to promise me you'll stay on top him. He's going to test you to see how much he can get away with. You can't let him get away with anything.

"Oh I promise. He knows better than to do anything stupid. He knows I'll pack his ass up and bring him right back here if he doesn't follow directions." Jason assured her.

"Alrighty then. Go break the good news." The nurse smiled.

Jason walked back into Clay's room with a big grin on his face.

"You son of a bitch, you did it didn't you?" Sonny asked with a smirk.

Jason winked at Sonny. "How would you like to get out of here tonight?" Jason asked Clay, who for the first time in days had a hint of a smile on his face.

"Are you serious?" Clay was trying not to get his hopes up in case it didn't actually happen.

"Would I joke about something like that?" He asked Clay. "Can you believe he thinks I would joke about something like that?" He then immediately asked Sonny and Ray.

Sonny and Ray laughed and shook their heads.

"What's the catch?" Clay asked, he knew there had to be one.

Jason looked at him and paused. "You're staying at my house." Jason started. Clay's heart sank a little bit at the fact that he wasn't going straight back to his place but at this point he would go anywhere if it meant leaving the hospital. "You'll be on strict bed rest but you will be allowed to hangout on the couch during the day. You HAVE to take your pain meds as scheduled, no ifs, ands or buts, I don't care how 'good' you're feeling and lastly, until your ankle heals, you are not to get up for any reason without supervision, understand?"

"Understood." Clay answered, throwing Jason off a bit. He fully expected Clay to have some sort of argument about all the 'rules' and when he didn't argue he was almost speechless.

"Ok. Good. The nurse will be here with the discharge information soon." Jason told him.

Clay's mood had seemed to improve while they were waiting for the nurse. He was more active in participating in conversations and wasn't quite as grumpy.

When the nurse finally walked in she was pushing a wheelchair and had a to-go bag which she handed to Jason. She began explaining things for being discharged and Clay was glad Jason was paying attention because all of his focus was on getting out of that damn bed. He heard the words the nurse was saying but wasn't comprehending a single word. It was almost as if she speaking a completely different language, one that Clay didn't speak.

"Clay?" She asked, snapping Clay out of his thoughts. "Did you hear a single word I just said?"

"Yea, sorry… I'm just ready to go." He completely lied through his teeth. The nurse knew it but wasn't going to push. She knew Jason was paying attention and was confident that he could keep Clay in line.

"Alright then. Let's get you out of here." She smiled. She then started disconnecting him from the monitors and IV's. Once he was disconnected from everything it was time to move him from the bed to the wheelchair. It was a lot harder than Clay anticipated.

"Ok. We're going to help you sit straight up. Then we will carefully swing your legs to the side of bed and help you into the wheelchair." The nurse told him.

Sitting up was more painful than he expected it to be. His broken ribs, although healing nicely, were still very sore. Sonny was on his left side while Ray was on his right. The pain was written all over his face. They gave him a minute to compose himself a bit before moving him to edge of the bed. Once there it was time to move him to the wheelchair.

Sonny and Jason each took a side and were getting ready to lift him when Clay stopped them. "Stop. I can do it. I still have one good leg. Just help me." He was adamant. Jason, Ray and Sonny all looked at the nurse to make sure it was ok. She was hesitant but gave him the go ahead.

"Just remember, it's been two and a half weeks since you've put any pressure on your feet. It might be a little harder than you expect." She reminded him.

Jason and Sonny each grabbed Clay under the arms as he attempted to stand up. As soon as his good foot hit the ground he was a bit surprised at just how hard it was. He felt like he was attempting to support a thousand pounds on his one leg. He was glad Jason and Sonny had a strong hold of him or else he would have went down. The nurse quickly got the wheelchair under him and they sat him down, propping his casted ankle up.

"Alright. I'm going to go pull my truck up. I'll meet you guys outside." Jason said as he took his keys out of his pocket and headed for the door.

After gathering up all of his belongings, Sonny pushed Clay while Ray and the nurse walked next to him. Clay was trying his best to control his anxiety but the closer they got to the door the harder it became. They arrived at the door the same time that Jason pulled up. Jason jogged in, carrying a heavy jacket to put on Clay.

Clay was thankful for the Jacket. He knew that it was the dead of winter but it was still a lot colder than he anticipated it being. He took note of all the snow on the ground and was relived to notice all the snow on the roads was melted.

Sonny wheeled him over to Jason's truck and as they were about to lift him out of the chair and into the passenger seat he stopped them. "Wait." He said.

"What's up? Did you forget something?" Ray asked.

"No. I just need a minute." Clay mumbled.

Everyone looked at each other. They knew there was a strong possibility that Clay would be weary of the vehicle but were hoping that wouldn't be the case.

Once Clay pulled himself together Jason and Sonny lifted him into the passenger seat. Ray folded up the wheelchair and put it the back.

"Ok. We'll meet you guys there." Ray said once Jason's truck was all loaded up.

Jason hopped into the driver's seat and turned the truck on, pretending not to notice Clay flinch as he did so. "Hey. It'll be fine. I live close and I'll drive slowly. The roads are all clear from her to my house so nothing to worry about there. Ok?" Jason knew this had to be hard.

"Ok." Clay whispered, not entirely convinced.

"Alright. Lets go." Jason said as he slowly put his truck in drive and drove off.

 **Sorry this chapter took so long. I actually rewrote it a couple different times trying to figure out where I wanted to go with it. Sorry if any of the medical stuff is off. I tried my best.**


	8. Chapter 8

The 15 minute drive to Jason's house seemed to take forever in Clay's mind. He tensed up at every turn and bump in the road that they hit. Jason was trying his best to avoid those bumps but avoiding them all was downright impossible.

Once they pulled up to Jason's house Clay felt a huge sense of relief. He noticed Sonny and Ray pull up behind them after forgetting that they were even following them.

Jason hopped out of the driver's seat and walked around to Clay's door and opened it while Sonny took the wheel chair out from the backseat of the truck.

Getting Clay back into the wheelchair from the truck was a bit of a challenge but a lot easier than it was getting him into the truck. Ray then pushed him up to Jason's front door while Jason unlocked it.

"You want to hang out for a bit or you ready for bed?" Jason asked Clay. It was only 8:00 but he could tell how tired Clay was.

"I'm pretty tired. I think I'll just head to bed." Clay answered as he prepared himself for the next battle of getting into the bed.

His three teammates pushed him into Jason's guest bedroom, helped him up and carefully into the bed. Once he was settled in Jason pulled his medications of the bag from the nurse and handed them to Clay. Ray handed him a bottle of water and then put it on the night stand was he took the meds.

"You need anything else?" Jason asked.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks." Clay replied.

"Ok. Well if you need anything just call me, we'll be right in the living room and my bedroom is right across the hall if you need something throughout the night. Don't be afraid to wake me up." Jason told him.

"Thanks." Clay said as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. ' _God, this sucks.'_ Clay thought to himself as his friends left the room. He appreciated everything they were doing for him, but he hated the fact that he needed that much help in the first place. The thoughts didn't last long because sleep quickly took over.

Jason, Sonny and Ray sat in the living, each with a beer in their hands.

"You think he'll be ok…mentally?" Ray asked. He knew Clay could easily overcome the physical injuries over time, but he also knew how hard this had to be for Clay.

"Eventually, yeah. It's just gonna take some time. I think as soon as he can start moving around a bit on his own he'll be better." Jason said.

"I hope so cause he's pretty down on himself right now. He needs some good news or something, He's gotten nothing but bad news since the accident happened." Sonny added.

Jason and Ray shook their heads in agreement. They all wished there was something more they could do to help cheer the kid up.

"How long till he gets the cast off?" Ray asked.

"Which one? Wrist or ankle?" Jason asked him. "He has to get both checked out next week. If they look like they're healing properly the wrist cast can be replaced with a brace and the ankle cast can be replaced with a walking boot. Once he's in the walking boot he'll be able to start physical therapy and hopefully start moving around on his own."

"What about the neck brace? How long does that have to stay on?" Sonny asked next.

"According to the doctors… about three months." Jason hesitantly responded.

"Damn. That's gotta be rough." Ray said.

"Rough indeed, but at least he's still alive. That crash could have, should have, easily killed him. Kid got lucky." Sonny reminded them.

Sonny made a good point. Everyone was focusing on the negative impacts of this accident rather than the fact that Clay did, indeed survive, and would, with time, eventually make a full recovery.

"We just gotta show him that we're here for him, no matter what. He's got a rough road ahead these next few months. Anything he needs, we gotta try to find a way to get it." Jason told them.

Sonny and Ray both agreed. They would do whatever it took to help Clay get better.

"How long we out of rotation for?" Sonny asked.

"Two, maybe three weeks." Jason didn't like talking about leaving the kid yet, but hopefully in two to three weeks he would at least be able to walk on his own.

"Then what? He gonna be able to take care of himself by then? With Stella gone, we're the only family he's got." Ray wanted to know.

"Hopefully he'll be back at his apartment by then. Derek and his wife, who live across the hall, will hopefully be able to help him out with anything when we can't be there, and when we are home, at least one of us can stay at his place until the doctors say he's ok to be on his own. We're not gonna talk about that yet though. We just gotta take one day at a time for now." Jason informed them.

"Yeah, you're right." Sonny said.

"What about you? How you been holding up?" Ray asked. It had been about two months since Alana's accident and up until now it was a topic the team rarely brought up.

"I definitely have my days but I'm getting there. Being back with the team has definitely helped, keeps me busy. Finally came to an understanding with the kids. It definitely helps that my mom got a place down here to help with them." He paused, clearly holding back a tear. "When I got the news about the kid I.. I just.. it brought me back to the day of Alana's accident. All the feelings finding their way back up. I instantly expected the worse. Tried to figure out how in the hell I was going to plan another funeral when I wasn't even over the first one."

"Hey. It's ok. You don't have to worry about that. He's alive. Banged up to hell, but alive. This accident, it rocked us all, threw every single one of us for a loop, but he's in that room right there, ALIVE." Ray reminded Jason.

"I understand that." Jason started to let the tears fall. "What I don't understand is why Alana isn't."

"Aw shit." Sonny dropped his head down. "Jason what happened to Alana, it ain't fair, and unfortunately it's something that none of us will ever understand. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to figure out the answers."

"Jase. We're all given only so many days, it was just her time." Ray chimed back in.

"I know I… I just miss her." Jason said as he was now letting the tears flow.

Sonny and Ray hung out for a little while longer, comforting Jason. Once they were gone Jason sat back down on his couch and stared at a picture of him and his family until a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Jase." He heard Clay calling his name. He quickly jumped up to make sure he was ok.

"What's wrong? Everything ok?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, I just have to pee." Clay said with a slight smile. He didn't expect Jason to come running in thinking something was wrong.

Relieved, Jason carefully helped Clay into the bathroom and then back into bad.

"Thank you. Ray and Sonny still here?" Clay mumbled.

"Don't mention it. No they left a few minutes ago, told me to tell you they said see ya later." Jason said.

"Cool. You ok? Your eyes look a little red." Clay asked. He might've been half asleep and a little drugged up but he knew red eyes when he saw them.

"I'm good. I'm actually more than good. Sonny and Ray, they opened my eyes a little tonight, helped me see things a little differently." Jason smiled.

"Good. I'm glad." Clay wanted to say more but he was just too tired. Before he could say anymore he was back in dreamland.

Jason stood against the doorway with his arms crossed and just watched Clay sleep for a few minutes. He was going to do whatever it took to help him get back on his feet, something he didn't have the chance to do with Alana.

Once he was done, he headed to his room to get ready for bed. Tomorrow was a new day and he was going into it with a positive attitude.


	9. Chapter 9

Once morning came around, Jason looked at the clock and then jumped out of bed. It was only 6:30 am and Clay hadn't woken him up once throughout the night. He quickly went to Clay's room and was surprised to see him sound asleep.

"Hey. Clay?" Jason called out trying to wake him up. When he didn't answer he walked further into the room and tried again. Still nothing. A little bit of panic started to kick in. He went right up to the bed and started nudging and calling him. "Hey man come on. Wake up!"

Clay's face wrinkled in pain as he started to come to. "What?" He mumbled once he finally opened his eyes.

"It's time to take your meds. Here." Jason said as he tried to hand Clay the pills and the opened bottle of water.

Clay tried to ignore him. He just wanted to go back to sleep. "Leave me alone." Clay said a little more clearly.

Jason could tell something was up, he just had to figure out what. He also knew Clay was still a bit moody and needed to tread lightly. "Take the meds and I will. Here." Jason again tried to hand Clay the pills and this time Clay accepted them.

Once Jason was satisfied that Clay took the meds, he stayed true to his word and left him alone. He would question him later to try to figure where the morning attitude came from. Until then, he headed out into the kitchen and carried on with his morning routine.

Ray had sent Jason a text asking how things were going. Jason was honest, told him he planned on waking up with a positive attitude but Clay had put a quick damper on those plans.

Within an hour Ray and Naima were at Jason's door and they weren't empty handed. They had a large container of cheesy eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and orange juice.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jason asked surprised.

"Thought we'd bring you guys a little breakfast, plus Naima wanted to see how Clay was doing." Ray smiled as he and Naima walked inside and placed breakfast on the table.

"How's he doing?" Naima asked. She had heard the simplified version from what Jason texted Ray, but she wanted to know how he was really doing. She's been married to a SEAL long enough to know how much they down play everything.

Jason shrugged his shoulders "He's definitely been better. I woke him up to check on him and give him his pain meds, he didn't like that and he wasn't afraid to let me know. Once I finally got him to take his meds I left him alone and he's been sleeping ever since."

"How long ago was that?" She asked.

Jason looked at the clock "A little more than two hours ago."

"Do you mind if I go talk to him, maybe try to get him to join us for breakfast?" She asked.

"Good luck with that. Maybe he'll be a little nicer seeing you instead of me?" Jason warned her.

Naima walked to Clay's bedroom and knocked on the door frame as she walked in. She was a bit shocked that he opened his eyes at the sound.

Clay's face wrinkled again but she couldn't tell if it was out of pain or confusion. She was sure Clay definitely wasn't expecting her to be there.

"Hey Clay. How you doing?" She asked with a soothing tone.

"I've had better days." He responded.

"Yeah. I can believe that. Ray's here too. We brought you guy's breakfast. Would you like to join us?"

Clay thought about it for a second. He wasn't all that hungry but there was something about Naima that made saying no almost impossible. "I'm going to need some help getting there." He smiled.

Naima walked into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. Jason and Ray couldn't help but shake their heads. ' _How does she do it?'_ Jason wondered.

Jason and Ray walked into Clay's room and helped him into the wheelchair before rolling him out into the kitchen.

Jason took out four plates and placed one in front of each person while Naima filled the plates. Clay picked at his plate more than he ate but in the end ate almost half.

Once breakfast was done Naima sent the boys into the living room while she did the dishes. Jason told her that she didn't have to do that, that he would take care of it once they left but she insisted.

Once Naima finished the dishes she joined the guys in the living room for a little bit. They didn't want to stay too long. They knew once Clay took his next round of pills that he would probably be ready for a nap, so once Jason gave them to him, they decided it was time to leave.

Both Jason and Clay thanked them for stopping by with breakfast and then said their goodbyes. Once they were gone, Jason could see the meds starting to take effect.

"You want to head back into the bedroom?" Jason asked him.

"Actually, you mind if I just lay on the couch for a little bit?" Clay hesitantly asked. He was tired of being isolated in the dark bedroom.

"No not at all. I'll push you closer and then I'll help you onto it. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Clay said.

Once Jason transferred Clay from the wheelchair to the couch he went into the room to grab Clay a blanket and a couple pillows. "Do you need anything else?"

"No thank you. I think I'm good for now. Thanks." Clay answered.

"No problem, just let me know if you change your mind. I'm going to go call the kids and see how they're doing. I'll be right in the kitchen if you need me." He explained.

"Thanks." Clay said.

Jason started walking away when he heard Clay saying his name.

"Jason." Clay called.

"Well that was fast. What do you need?" Jason asked him.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say thank you and I'm sorry." Clay mumbled a bit.

Jason walked back over towards Clay. "For what?"

"Everything. I know I'm not the easiest person to be around right now, but I really do appreciate everything you're doing and have done for me. It means more than you know." And Clay meant that.

"Clay. You don't have to apologize for anything. You…" Jason was cut off.

"But I do. I'm constantly taking all of my frustrations out on you and that's not fair. You don't deserve any of it." Clay was being sincere.

"Look man, I understand. I would be just as frustrated if I were in your position. I'll be your verbal punching bad anytime you need me to be and I promise that I'll never hold any sort of anger towards it." Jason sat down in the chair next to the couch. Clay didn't open up very much so when he did, he made sure to listen.

Clay's eyes started to water as he fought all his pent up emotions busting at the seams. It's just… everything hurts. Constantly. I can barely move, I can't turn my head and despite being constantly tired it's so hard sleeping. It's impossible to find a comfortable position and I'm just tired. Of all of it. I want my life back. My freedom back." Clay cried.

Hearing Clay practically pouring his heart out, pulled at Jason's own heartstrings. Clay wasn't one that typically admitted to pain so hearing him talk about how much he was in hurt. It hurt a lot.

"I'm sorry Clay. I'm sorry you're in pain, I'm sorry you can't move around, I'm sorry this happened to you. But you can't dwell on the negatives. You're strong. You survived. You're alive. You can talk, you're not paralyzed and with time you WILL recover. It's going to be a long and rough road but I promise, we will make it the finish line." Do you understand?" Jason said as he watched Clay try harder and harder to fight sleep off. "Close your eyes. Take a little nap. I'll be right in the kitchen if you need anything."

"Thank you." Clay answered, the only two words he had enough energy to get out before finally falling asleep.

Jason walked into the kitchen and called his kids. Hearing their voices and about their day always made him feel better. He talked to each one for about 20 minutes before they hung up.

After hanging up Jason walked back out towards the living room, sat in the reclining chair and out the tv on. He kept the volume somewhat low so that he wouldn't wake Clay up. Once he was satisfied with the tv channel, he decided that a nap didn't sound half bad. He closed his eyes and within minutes joined Clay in dreamland.

 **Thank you guys for all the reviews. I really appreciate them all and they're part of what keeps motivating me to keep writing. I'm glad everyone seems to like this story. Rest assured there will probably be at least** **two more chapters. I still haven't decided if I want to bring Stella back into this story or not, especially after last night's episode. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

The following week was full of ups and downs. Some days were good, others not so much. The bad days were mostly full of fights. Each day Clay felt better, and as a result, started trying to do more things on his own. Things he technically shouldn't be doing yet. Jason tried to be sympathetic but he had been given strict orders from the doctor not to let him do too much too soon and Clay was definitely pushing the bar too soon in Jason's eyes.

Jason had to pick his battles carefully. He was glad Clay was feeling well enough to start doing things on his own but he had a doctor's appointment in two days and Jason was going to be damned if the reason Clay couldn't get the cast's off yet was because he let him push it too far.

"Will you please lay down?" Jason said to Clay, as he watched Clay hobble into the kitchen. "Whatever you need I can get for you."

Clay rolled his eyes. He was tired of being stuck in a bed. Tired of being told to lay down. Tired of having to rely on people to get him whatever he needed. "I'm fine. I just wanted a drink. I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own. You don't have to keep babying me."

"I'm not babying you Clay. You have a doctor's appointment in two days. TWO! Do you want to be stuck here longer? Cause at the rate you're going, once they do those x-rays, those casts are going right back on and you'll be right back here, more miserable than you are now." Jason was trying to control his temper but it was getting harder and harder to do as the days went on. This doctor's appointment couldn't come soon enough.

Clay finished getting his drink and then hobbled back to his room and shut the door. There was no point in arguing, he knew Jason was right and was just looking out for him. It was just so frustrating.

/

Once the day of Clay's appointment arrived, both Jason and Clay seemed to be in good moods. They were both going in to the appointment trying to be optimistic but Jason was a little cautious. He didn't want Clay to get his hopes up about getting the casts removed and it not happen. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle grumpy, mopey Clay and receiving any sort of bad news today would definitely result in that.

"You ready yet?" Clay asked. He was beginning to get antsy waiting for Jason.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Jason said as he grabbed the keys. He pushed Clay in the wheelchair out to his truck and helped him in. It was so much easier getting him in the truck now that Clay was able to get in practically on his own. He noticed the slight hesitation on Clay's face but decided to ignore it.

Jason walked around to the driver's side and hopped in. He looked over at Clay who had his eyes closed. "You good?" Jason asked.

"Yeah." Clay mumbled. It was entirely convincing.

"You know it's normal right? To not be a fan of the car after an accident, especially one as bad as yours was." Jason said trying to help relax Clay.

"I just… I don't know. How long is it going to be like this?" Clay unintentionally said out loud.

"I'm sorry. I can't answer that question man but I'll do whatever I have to do to help you get over it, even if that means driving all the way across the country and back. You will get over it though. I promise." Jason was sincere. He would drive that kid around constantly until he no longer tensed up at the smallest bump in the road.

"Thanks Jason. For everything. Now enough of this sappy shit. We have a doctor's appointment to get to." Clay smiled, putting on a brave face for Jason.

/

Jason waited in the waiting room while Clay was getting his x-rays done. He was trying to be patient but that wasn't working out so well. He kept standing up from his chair and walking laps around the room, occasionally striking up a small conversation with some of the other people in the room.

He knew there was a pretty high chance that Clay was going to get his casts off, but there was still that slight chance that he wouldn't and that's what scared Jason. He didn't know how much more laying around Clay could handle. He was already climbing at the walls out of boredom. And as much as Jason didn't mind taking care of him, he was ready for Clay to go home, and he was pretty confident that Clay felt the same way.

After what felt like forever, Jason saw Clay and his doctor walking towards the waiting room. Jason couldn't help but smile. "Well look who's officially allowed to be on two feet." Jason joked.

"Minimally." The doctor added. "He'll be in the walking boot and the wrist brace for a few more weeks but he is allowed to start doing a little more on his own. Just continue keeping an eye on him and don't let him overdue it still. He will have physical therapy a few times a week to help speed up the process. We did also do x-rays on the neck. It's healing nicely and honestly a little quicker than we anticipated. He still has to keep the brace on though, but we set up his next appointment for 4 weeks from today and by then he might possibly be able to take it off here and there but we will discuss that more as the time gets closer."

"That's great news." Jason said, noticing the first real smile on Clay's face since the accident happened. "You ready to go home?" Jason asked Clay.

"Wait. Like home home?" Clay asked.

"Yes like home home." Jason smiled back. "Someone will be there with you constantly to help out and make sure you don't overdo it, but I think it's time."

Clay had a huge smile on his face. "I didn't think you were ever going to let me leave." He joked.

On the way to Clay's apartment they stopped by Jason's to get Clay's things. It was also part of Jason's plan to keep Clay in the car longer to help him overcome his vehicle anxiety. Jason could already tell Clay was starting to relax a little more. Nowhere near was comfortable, but he getting there.

Once all of Clay's things were gathered they headed over to his apartment. Clay was glad he lived somewhat close because he had seriously spent more than enough time in the car and he was ready to get out of it.

"Leave the stuff in the car. I'll come back and get it once I help you up the stairs." Jason said to Clay as they pulled up to his apartment.

Clay and Jason slowly made their way up the steps. Once Clay unlocked the door and opened it he was surprised to see all of Bravo and its support staff inside. A big welcome home banner hung banner hung from the ceiling. His fridge and pantry were entirely restocked and every single piece of furniture… bubble wrapped.

"You guys are seriously the best." Clay laughed "but was the bubble wrap really necessary?"

"Just a precaution. We don't want you breaking yourself any more than you already did." Sonny joked.

"What's this we!? This was all your idea Sonny." Lisa chimed in, also laughing.

"Don't act like you're innocent here little miss! You know damn well you enjoyed wrapping some shit up. You all did!" Sonny tried defending himself causing the entire group to laugh.

They all hung out for a few hours, discussing who was going to stay at Clay's and when, who was going to take him to physical therapy and his doctor's appointments.

Davis had organized a nice little calendar which labeled who was staying when. It even included some of the wives in case a mission came up, since they were all due to report back soon.

This was definitely one of the hardest things he has ever dealt with in his life, but his team, his family, all made it that much more bearable. Because of that he made it his personal mission to make their stays at his place as best as it could be. He knew they were doing him a huge favor and that was something that Clay would forever be grateful for.

 **I know this wasn't my best chapter but I still hope you enjoyed it. One more chapter to go!**


	11. Chapter 11

**11 months later…**

"Well, well, well… Look who's finally allowed back out to play with the big boys." Sonny joked as Clay entered the briefing room.

"You sure you really want to be back with this group of knuckleheads?" Lisa asked as she jokingly punched Sonny in the arm.

Sonny rubbed his arm, pretending like it actually hurt "Woah there Ms. Davis! Are you saying you'd rather be running with a different team? Cause I can assure you, we can make that happen!" Sonny winked and the rest of the group laughed.

"There isn't a different group of 'knuckleheads' that I'd rather run with and besides, if I had to sit at the desk one more day, there's no doubt I'd start climbing the walls." Clay insisted.

"Start? You've been climbing the walls basically since you left Jason's!" Ray stated, resulting in a sarcastic eye roll from Clay.

"It's good to have you back man." Jason said as he patted Clay on the back.

Once everyone was done welcoming Clay back, they all took their designated seats and waited for Ellis to inform them about their next mission.

It was a simple mission, or at least it was supposed to be. They all knew how the simple ones seemed to be the ones that always ended up going sideways. They just hoped this wasn't one of them.

After the briefing ended, they all packed up and headed for the plane. It was going to be a long, rough flight to India and everyone worried how Clay was going to handle it. He hasn't flown since the helicopter flight after the accident and only recently, fully got over his fear of being in the car.

"You think he'll be ok?" Ray asked Jason once they were the only two left in the room.

"He'll be fine. He was in a car accident, not a plane crash. He was fine with flying after that helicopter crash last year, I don't see why a plane flight would be any different." Jason defended Clay, but still wasn't entirely confident in his words.

"You're right, but he didn't almost die in that helicopter crash. Hell, up until two months ago he would tense up at the slightest bump in the road. We're flying through a storm, there's going to be a lot of turbulence. I'm just concerned about him, that's all." Ray admitted.

"We'll keep an eye on him. Worst case scenario, we'll slip him something to take the edge off. Now let's go before they leave us behind." Jason assured Ray.

They boarded their plane and spotted everyone in their typical locations. Jason walked by Clay in order to get to his hammock. "You good man?"

Clay looked up at Jason, he was a little nervous about the flight but he would never admit it. "Yeah, just ready to get back out there."

"Good. Just let us know if you need anything." Jason said as he plopped into his hammock.

As predicted, the flight was long and they experienced turbulence a majority of the way. Jason and Ray took turns trying to keep an eye on Clay without him noticing. It didn't work.

"I know you're watching me." He said, with his eyes shut and a slight smile on his face. "I'm fine. Really." And he was. The first hour or two he felt a little uneasy with the turbulence, but he eventually settled in and was fine the rest of the flight.

Once they landed they all headed to their temporary rooms and dropped off their things. No one bothered to really unpack as they were only expecting to be there for three, four days tops.

/

For once, everything on the mission went as planned. They easily acquired their target, and now that they were back home, it was time to celebrate.

The entire team went out to a local bar, one they all went to often. "First rounds on me." Blackburn informed them all. Once they all had their first drink a quick toast was made and then the night continued.

Everything finally felt right again. That was until about the two hour mark.

"Oh shit. What the fuck is she doing here?" Sonny stated as he began to leave his bar stool and make his way to the door before Lisa stopped him. Sonny looked around and stopped when he laid eyes on Clay. He had his back to the door and was playing a game of darts with Trent.

"You sit back down." Lisa demanded as Sonny started to stand. They seemed to be the only two that noticed Stella enter the bar with some friends. "Let me do the talking." She then stood up and made her way over to Stella.

Stella's face when she noticed Lisa striding towards her looked like she had just seen a ghost. Stella had visited the bar often since her and Clay broke up but knew they were bound to run into each other at some point. In a way, she secretly hoped they would. She felt bad about the way they ended things and wanted to make things right.

"Stella, hey." Lisa smiled as she approached Stella and her friends, doing her best not to make a scene.

"Hey Lisa." Stella smiled back. Not the hello she was expecting, in fact, she fully expected Lisa to verbally attack her and in a way, wouldn't blame her.

There was an awkward silent moment between the two before Lisa finally spoke up. "What are you doing here?" It was both an honest and interrogating question. She knew this was the bar where Clay first met Stella, meaning she went there before her and Clay were a thing but she also knew that Stella was aware of the fact that the team went there often. If she was there to cause a scene she wanted to put a quick halt on it.

"Just came to have a few drinks with some friends. I had no idea you guys would be here. I swear. If you want us to leave and go somewhere else just say the word and we…we'll…" She stopped herself short as her eyes landed on Clay. Clay noticed her almost at the same moment, having to do a double take to make sure it was really her and that he wasn't seeing things.

He put his beer down on the table and walked over. Stella's heart started racing. She didn't know what to expect. Was Clay going to be ok with her being here or was he going to tell her off?

By now everyone had noticed Clay making his way over to Stella.

"This has disaster written all over it." Sonny whispered to himself.

Jason was about to head in the same direction to interject when Mandy stopped him. "Let them. They have some unfinished business that needs tending to."

"So help me God, Mandy, if this sets him back in any way…" Jason started to say.

"That conversation that's about to happen, it's been a long time coming. Whatever happens, happens." Mandy was right and Jason knew it, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

As Clay approached, Stella's butterflies grew. She didn't know what to say, how to act. She wanted to turn around and run out the door but it was all too late for that. Clay was now practically standing right in front of her. "Clay. Hey." She managed to get out. "How are you? You look great."

Clay shrugged his shoulders. "Feeling good as new. Got a few extra scars but other than that you would never even know I was in that accident."

"Good. That's great. Really great." Stella blurted out.

"I'm gonna head back to the bar. I'm sure you two have some catching up or something to do. It was good to see you Stella." Lisa said as she awkwardly started walking back towards the bar to rejoin Sonny.

"You want to step outside, maybe talk for a minute?" Stella asked nervously.

Clay shook his head in agreement and the two headed out the door.

It took everything in them for Bravo to not follow them out the door, but they all knew this was something that had to happen in order for Clay to fully move on. They all witnessed how the break up messed with his head throughout his recovery and they were all glad he was finally, hopefully, going to get some closure.

Outside, Clay and Stella walked over to a picnic table and sat down. Clay sat on the table with his feet on the chair, while Stella sat on it normally.

"I meant what I said Clay. You do really look great. Happy." Stella's shaky voice said.

"I am. Now…" Clay said as the two made eye contact.

The 'now' part hit Stella hard. She didn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry" was all that came to mind.

Clay shrugged his shoulders. "It's fine. The past is the past. No use in dwelling on it now."

"But I do. I do dwell on it. Every damn day. I think about how I could have done things differently. If I hadn't gotten mad when you got the text, maybe you wouldn't have stormed off and got in an accident, or if I hadn't asked Gordon to help me pack, and I swear I only asked him because he was the closest and I, at the time, wanted out of there as quick as possible…." She started ranting through a steady flow of tears before Clay interrupted her.

"Woah, woah, woah. Stop right there. What happened to me, that had nothing to do with you, do you understand. That accident was happening whether we got in a fight or not. There was nothing that could have been done to stop that." Clay bended the truth a bit to try to help Stella calm down. He knew the accident happened because he was distracted from her constant phone calls but he would never tell her that. "Look at me. Its. Not. Your. Fault."

Stella wasn't fully convinced but she shook her head in agreement. "Come on. It's freezing out here. Let's go back in and I'll buy you a drink." Clay said.

Stella looked up, a bit shocked that even after everything, he was willing to buy her a drink. "You know, you truly are an amazing guy. It's a shame we didn't work out."

Clay shrugged his shoulders again. "You know, in a thousand lifetimes we would, just not this one. But that doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

"I don't think I could handle that Clay. I love you. A part of me always will, but I think after tonight, its best we go our separate ways. I'm actually moving to Kentucky next weekend. I got an awesome job offer at a wonderful college. I couldn't turn it down. The girls and I just came out to celebrate my last weekend in town." Stella admitted.

"Wow. That's great. I'm happy for you. If anyone deserves it, it's you. You worked your ass off for it. Now I definitely have to buy you a drink." Clay smiled and then opened his arms to welcome Stella in for a hug. She hesitated at first but then hugged him back. She hugged him extra tight, listening to his heartbeat. _'God I love this man'_ she thought, but she knew as long as he was with bravo, or on any team for that matter, she couldn't be with him. She still believed that death was a very possible, eventuality for Clay and she couldn't just sit around waiting for that to happen.

As they headed back inside, all eyes were on them. Clay gave a nod indicating that everything was all good and the two proceeded to bar where Clay bought Stella a drink. Everyone was a little surprised and concerned that he was buying her a drink and spending time with her but no one dared to approach. Not yet at least. Once the drink was finished, Clay and Stella said their final goodbye as Stella and her friends left.

The second Stella was out the door, Bravo was at Clay's side, dying to know what just happened.

"We're all good. She's moving to Kentucky next weekend." Clay informed them.

They all blew a sigh of relief knowing that the two weren't getting back together.

"Are you ok with that?" Lisa asked.

Clay looked up at Lisa and shook his head. "Yeah. I am." And he meant it. He received the closure he didn't even realize he needed and could finally move on from everything that happened over the last year. He smiled. The team smiled and then the celebration continued.

 **End.**

 **Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews. They meant a lot. I really enjoyed writing this story and hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Sorry I didn't elaborate more on Clay's first mission back. I couldn't think of a quick story line that wouldn't make this last chapter forever long (although I'm sure some of you wouldn't haven't minded) but I wanted to focus more on the Clay and Stella storyline. I tried to think of something that would make both the Stella lovers and haters happy and hope I did ok with that. Anyway, on to the next story. If anyone has any ideas of some sort of story line for the next story I'm more than willing to take suggestions.**


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